One of the few boda bodas (motorbikes) on the Island to look at the potential location of the new airstrip. A lot of work to be done!

The team that went out to scope it all out.

(L to R Brad who is an engineer from EMI, Simon, Sam Tsapwe from Jesus Film Ministries and Adrian Went, MAF's Operations Manager)

OOPS!

OOPS AGAIN!!

Well it is definately time for another update. A lot has happened since my last post so I will try to fill you all in while we have power. The power went off on Sunday afternoon and came back on for a couple of hours today and then went off again. Thankfully it is back tonight. Hopefully it stays on :) Anyway I had better get writing this post in case it does go off.

Simon had a productive time down in South Africa at the end of October. He was doing some MAF training in order to be qualified as a Check Pilot. We give thanks that he passed the training and is now officially a MAF Check pilot on the Caravan (Cessna 208). This means he can check out new pilots in MAF programmes and also keep the other pilots up to date on all their 6 monthly checks. He continues to also be Chief Pilot for the programme and Chief Safety Officer so he spends quite a bit of his time behind the computer than he used to much to his dismay. :)

Simon had an unfortunate incident last week when he had a propeller strike on one of the smaller planes (Cessna 210). He was taxiing and making a last turn before take off when the nose wheel of the plane went into a hole caused by termites. The weight of the plane caused the ground to disappear into a hole. The propeller then hit the ground and so as a safety measure the engine has to be thoroughly inspected for damage. The plane will be out of service until January. The programme is really busy with flying at the moment so not the best timing but we do hope to have another plane in our programme soon so that should lessen the burden. We are just grateful it was nothing more serious and that Simon is fine.

Simon was also busy last week visiting an island out in Lake Victoria called Buvu. After many years of trying to encourage the programme to look at possible ways of helping the people out in Lake Victoria we finally had a break through. Simon, Sam from Jesus Film Ministries and Adrian our Operations Manager travelled by boat for two hours to reach Buvu Island and meet with the officials there about building an airstrip on the Island. There has been funding from the UK for this project and we are excited about the possibilty of it becoming a reality for the people there. At the moment there is no clinic or pharmacy/chemist on the Island so people have to travel to the mainland for medicines. For them it can be a 3 hours journey in a leaky boat added with the fact that many Ugandans have a great fear of water. Hopefully by building an airstrip on the Island NGO's and other aid organisations will be happy to invest time to go and give assistance to the Islanders on Buvu as well as neighbouring islands. Also with that the hope of Jesus Christ.

While Simon has been galavanting around Joshua, Zara and I have been holding the fort at home. While Simon was in South Africa Joshua and Zara had their Autumn break. We were able to do some fun things together and even went horseriding. The place where we went horseriding was hosting some top African leaders and Presidents so we had to negotiate our way in. After a few chats with the military personnel and police at several points we managed to get into the resort. We didn't have the same freedom to roam around like we normally do but Joshua and Zara had fun nevertheless. During that time we also had some of the MAF EDRC (Congo) team staying with us because of the insecurity so the house wasn't quiet :)

Not only do Joshua and Zara keep me busy but also my work with MAF. At the moment I am working with a friend on a project out at the MAF airstrip in Kajjansi. We are involved in some re-structuring of how work is currently carried out there as well as implementing some new processes and procedures. Our flights have increased a lot in recent years but the resources have remained the same so the staff out there needed a little help in re-organising to accommodate this increase in workload so that they wouldn't disappear under the pressure of it all. It is a fun project and I am learning a lot through the process.

My role with training continues. At the moment I and another colleague are finishing off some Customer Care training with all the MAF staff. We are organising some First Aid training next week and then at the beginning of 2009 I have organised some Project Management training which a friend is going to teach so exciting times ahead.

Along with all the work I have been hosting a Bible Study at our house for some ladies for the past few weeks. We are going through the Book of Philippians. A friend is leading the study and it has been of great benefit to those who have attended. We have been challenged to look at Paul's devotion to Christ and his sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel. We pray that we would be changed forever by what we learn through Pauls writings to the Philippians.

I will add some photos to this blog to give you a picture of some of the things we have been up to.